By Carolyn Littell

My Husband and I are Real Estate Agents with Big Canoe Realty, and have lived in Big Canoe for over 15 years. We happen to be selling our current home and Big Canoe Building Group is building a new home within the same Community. Since we are going through the same selling process that many of you are facing, we wanted to share a few important things that we’ve learned to keep in mind when you’re getting ready to sell your home.

1) Pay for a pre-sale inspection to be done – find out ahead of time the things that are going to need to be fixed, painted, replaced, etc. Not only will the house show better and therefore sell quicker, but you’ll save yourself a lot of hassle and money by being able to shop around for the best person/company to do the work instead of being time-stressed to get them done prior to closing.

2) Bring in someone who is gifted at ‘staging’ your home. They will typically tell you to get rid of all the personal and family pictures; reduce the clutter and the number of items in a room. They will probably also recommend moving some of your furniture around and do this before you bring in someone to do the professional photography.

3) Online slide shows or virtual tours (some with music) are popular now to give potential buyers a visual walk-through.

4) Common sense – enhance the curb appeal – pretend you’re driving by your own home. What could you do on the exterior or landscaping to make it more appealing? Clean your windows, paint a fresh coat on the front door, power wash the siding, add fresh pine straw or mulch to make your landscaping pop, etc.
A little bit of TLC can go a long way, and your efforts will hopefully get your house sold in a timely fashion.